<?php
/**
 * <https://y.st./>
 * Copyright © 2017 Alex Yst <mailto:copyright@y.st>
 * 
 * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
 * (at your option) any later version.
 * 
 * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
 * GNU General Public License for more details.
 * 
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 * along with this program. If not, see <https://www.gnu.org./licenses/>.
**/

$xhtml = array(
	'title' => 'No cable Internet service',
	'body' => <<<END
<section id="general">
	<h2>General news</h2>
	<p>
		The only cable company in the area refuses to provide prices on their website unless you give them your full and complete address.
		Are they charging different prices to different addresses within the same city or are they just trying to bully you into providing your address so they&apos;ll know you looked at prices and be able to send you postal spam to try to talk you into getting service if you weren&apos;t quite convinced yet?
		In any case, I talked to a representative, who again, tried to get my postal address.
		I gave them the address aside from the apartment number, as they don&apos;t need that for a simple price inquiry.
		They tried to pressure me into handing over my apartment number too, but I made it very clear I was only price checking and didn&apos;t see any reason they needed the apartment number.
		They admitted the price would be the same to all the apartments in the complex, gave me a price, and told me I&apos;d need to sign a one-year service contract.
		I&apos;m not buying into lock-in like that!
		For starters, lock-in contracts are a despicable practice.
		Second, they&apos;re not only locking me to their service, but also my apartment!
		If for some reason I need to leave, I&apos;ll trigger the cancellation clause of the contract!
		No deal.
		I let them know in no uncertain terms how despicable I find service contracts, and they offered to leave out the service contract - but jack the monthly bill up by 25%!
		Yeah.
		No.
		I&apos;m not paying more to some abusive company just because they want to charge me for not giving up my freedom, nor am I signing away my freedom.
		The cable company can just stick it.
		I&apos;ll get a slower connection from a non-cable $a[ISP] or I&apos;ll not get home Internet service at all.
	</p>
	<p>
		I also finally returned some bottles that&apos;ve been building up at my apartment for the deposit.
		I don&apos;t actually drink soda myself, but my coworkers do.
		They throw away the bottles, too.
		Not only are they not returning them for the nickels, they&apos;re not even putting them in the recycling bin!
		I grab them out when I see them and take them home with me.
		The convenience store wouldn&apos;t take more than fifty of them in one day though.
		I&apos;m fairly certain they&apos;re required by law to take at least one hundred forty-four per customer per day, but I&apos;m not going to fight them over it.
		I&apos;ll take the other twelve back to them some other day.
	</p>
	<p>
		My <a href="/a/canary.txt">canary</a> still sings the tune of freedom and transparency.
	</p>
</section>
<section id="university">
	<h2>University life</h2>
	<p>
		I went over my <a href="/en/coursework/PHIL1404/Caveat_emptor_and_the_McDonald~s_coffee_case.xhtml">essay for the week</a> one last time, then focused on the discussion assignment:
	</p>
	<blockquote>
		<p>
			That&apos;s a very good point.
			If outright banned, gambling will likely head underground.
			So what we need isn&apos;t a legal ban on it.
			What we need is better education about the topic.
			If people are educated enough to understand why gambling won&apos;t pay off, maybe they&apos;ll put their money instead toward something more useful and the gambling industry will collapse.
		</p>
		<p>
			... Then again, maybe I&apos;m putting too much faith in people like I often do.
			Maybe educated people would still be idiots and blow their money in casinos.
		</p>
	</blockquote>
	<blockquote>
		<p>
			I completely agree, the responsible thing to do if you own a casino is transition into a less parasitic industry.
			Maintaining a casino just isn&apos;t ethically recommendable.
			The good of the community has to be put above your own ability to generate massive profits.
			While you might make less money in another type of business, at least you can find a way to do business while also doing little to no harm.
		</p>
	</blockquote>
	<blockquote>
		<p>
			How would your proposed legislation of safe gambling practices work?
			How would you make sure that people gamble only for fun and not expected return?
		</p>
		<p>
			What if that sixty-five dollars per adult per year were taxed directly to the casino that caused it?
			Currently, yes, crime-fighting resources are too small to deal with that level of crime.
			However, if the casino had to pay for it, the police force, et cetera, could be made very effective against crime.
			They&apos;d have the resources necessary to handle it.
			Would the tax be worth it to you then?
			Would it be enough to make up for the damages?
		</p>
	</blockquote>
	<blockquote>
		<p>
			Part of the problem is that the gamblers are the ones committing the crimes, not the victims of the crimes.
			Abstaining from gambling because of the warnings and age restrictions won&apos;t protect you, as many people will disregard the warnings, then turn to crime to survive.
			Outlawing gambling isn&apos;t to protect gamblers; it&apos;s to protect everyone else.
			Should gamblers be allowed to put themselves in desperate situations that result in their harming the rest of us?
		</p>
	</blockquote>
	<p>
		Lastly, I took the ungraded and graded quizzes.
	</p>
</section>
END
);
